{{Short description|British author and travel journalist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Isabella Tree | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1964}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | father = Michael Lambert Tree | mother = Lady Anne Tree | relatives = Edward Cavendish (grandfather)<br/>Mary Gascoyne-Cecil (grandmother)<br/>Ronald Tree (grandfather)<br/>Nancy Lancaster (grandmother) | education = University of London | occupation = Conservationist, writer | spouse = {{Marriage|Charles Burrell|1993}} | children = 2 | website = {{URL|https://isabellatree.com}} }} '''Isabella Tree''', '''Lady Burrell''' (born 1964)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/isabella-tree |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=thegentlewoman.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> is a British author and conservationist. She is author of the book ''Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm'' that describes the creation of Knepp Wildland, the first large-scale rewilding project in lowland England. The {{convert|3500|acre|ha|abbr=off|adj=on}} wildland project was created in the grounds of Knepp Castle, the ancestral home of her husband, Sir Charles Burrell, a landowner and conservationist.
== Biography == Tree attended Millfield School.<ref>{{cite web |title=Notable Alumni |url=https://www.millfieldschool.com/discover-brilliance/old-millfieldians/notable-alumni |website=Millfield School |access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref> She was adopted by an aristocratic British family as a baby. She read Classics, following the advice of author Iris Murdoch and went to the University of London.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blanchard |first=Tamsin |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/isabella-tree |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=thegentlewoman.co.uk |language=en}}</ref>
From 1993 to 1995, Tree was a travel correspondent at the ''Evening Standard''.<ref name="potts">{{cite web|url=https://rolfpotts.com/isabella-tree/|title=Isabella Tree|website=rolfpotts.com|date=November 2003 |accessdate=26 January 2020}}</ref> In 1999 she was Overall Winner of the Travelex Travel Writers' Awards for a feature on Nepal's Kumaris, or "Living Goddesses" – "High and Mighty" – for the ''Sunday Times''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography |url=http://isabellatree.com/biography/ |website=isabellatree.com |accessdate=16 September 2016}}</ref> She has written articles for ''The Guardian''<ref>{{cite web |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/isabella-tree |work=The Guardian |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref> and ''National Geographic Magazine''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/search?q=Isabella%20Tree&location=srp&type=manual |publisher=National Geographic Magazine |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref>
Tree is married to Sir Charles Burrell and lives at Knepp Castle in West Sussex.<ref>{{cite web |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://www.isabellatree.com/ |website=www.isabellatree.com/ |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref> <!--Her father was the son of Ronald Tree and a member of a well connected Anglo-American family active in politics and public life on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Her mother was Lady Anne Tree, youngest daughter of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. She has two children.-->
== Books ==
* {{cite book |title=Islands in the Clouds: Travels in the Highlands of New Guinea |year=1996 |isbn=9780864423696 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Lonely Planet Publications |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=Sliced Iguana |year=2001 |isbn=1845114965 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=The Bird Man: The Extraordinary Story of John Gould |year=2004 |isbn=071262158X |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Barrie & Jenkins |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=The Living Goddess |year=2014 |publisher= Eland Publishing |last=Tree |first=Isabella |isbn=978-0143422549 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm |year=2018 |isbn=9781509805105 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Pan Macmillan |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=Second Nature |year=2020 |isbn=9781909889361 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Granta |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=When We Went Wild |year=2021 |isbn=9780711262850 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Ivy Kids |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=When The Storks Came Home |year=2022 |isbn=9780711272798 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Ivy Kids Eco |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small |year=2023 |isbn=9781526659293 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Bloomsbury |ref=none}} * {{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back, The Illustrated Guide for Children |year=2024 |isbn= |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=<!--Bloomsbury?--> |ref=none}}
== Awards ==
* 1996: Shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award (''Islands in the Clouds'')<ref name="chip">{{cite web |title=Want to meet some wild, adventurous and inspiring women? |url=https://www.chiplitfest.com/blog/want-to-meet-some-wild-adventurous-and-inspiring-women |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923123618/https://www.chiplitfest.com/blog/want-to-meet-some-wild-adventurous-and-inspiring-women |archive-date=23 September 2020 |work=Chipping Norton Literature Festival}}</ref> * 1999: Overall winner of the Travelex Travel Writer Awards<ref name="chip" /><ref name="MayesWilson2002">{{cite book |last=Mayes |first=Frances |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_PXfdpd8PIC&pg=PA347 |title=The Best American Travel Writing 2002 |author2=Jason Wilson |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2002 |isbn=0-618-11880-2 |pages=347–}}</ref> * 2018: Richard Jefferies Society Literature Award (''Wilding'')<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.richardjefferiessociety.org/2019/05/richard-jefferies-society-white-horse.html |title=Richard Jefferies Society & White Horse Bookshop Literature Prize 2018}}</ref> * 2018: One of the top ten science books – Smithsonian Magazine (''Wilding'') <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ten-best-science-books-2018-180970954/ |title=Ten Best Science Books 2018 |work=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref> * 2019: Shortlisted for Wainwright Prize (''Wilding'')<ref>{{cite web |title=Wilding |url=https://wainwrightprize.com/wilding/ |work=Wainwright Prize}}</ref> * 2020: Awarded the CIEEM (Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management) Medal<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2020 |title=CIEEM Medal Winners 2020 – John Hopkins & Isabella Tree |url=http://cieem.net/cieem-medal-winners-2020/ |access-date=2021-08-13}}</ref> * 2021: Royal Geographical Society's Ness Award<ref>{{Cite web |title=Royal Geographical Society – 2021 Awards |url=https://www.rgs.org/about/medals-award/2021-awards/ |access-date=2021-08-13 |website=www.rgs.org}}</ref> * 2023: Zoological Society of London Silver Medal (''Wilding'')<ref>{{cite web |title=Prestigious awards honour stars of conservation science | ZSL |url=https://www.zsl.org/news-and-events/news/outstanding-contributions-science-and-conservation-recognised-zsl-awards}}</ref> * 2024: Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Sussex<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ellis |first1=Lauren |title=Knepp Estate's founder Isabella Tree awarded Honorary Doctorate at University of Sussex summer graduation |url=https://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/65109 |publisher=University of Sussex |date=24 July 2024}}</ref> <!-- Please do not add anything here without citing a reliable source. Thank you. -->
==See also== *Wilding (2023 film)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.isabellatree.com IsabellaTree.com]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tree, Isabella}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:British travel writers Category:Wives of baronets Category:British adoptees Category:British women travel writers Category:People educated at Millfield Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:Rewilding in the United Kingdom Category:Rewilding advocates Category:Writers from Dorset Category:British Book Award winners